Down the Lanes
by Sir Cameron Dragic
Summary: Modern AU. The Ylisse Lanes Shepherds are a struggling bowling team led by Chrom and Frederick in desperate need of some help. Luckily, Chrom finds exactly what he needs in Robin, a mysterious girl who is searching for some answers of her own, as she tries to find a way to turn this dysfunctional team into champions.


**Just an idea that popped in my head. Please enjoy.**

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Chapter 1

I woke up with a ringing in my head and an overwhelming urge to find the nearest trash can to get rid of my nausea. Painfully, I opened my eyes to find an attractive man with dark blue hair standing over me with a concerned look on his face. So, I was waking up to both a headache and a hunk. Okay, I could definitely get used to this part of waking up.

"Are you okay?" The man asked, kneeling down so that he could place a hand on my forehead while I squirmed at the sudden contact.

"Whoa, I'm not going to hurt you." He said, as if he were talking to a dog or something, which would have irritated me more if it weren't for the fact that another man entered my vision. He looked to be a few inches taller than the blue haired man, and was every bit as handsome with strong features and a messy head of hazelnut hair, although his most noticeable features were his chiseled arms that could not be concealed by his short sleeve button up shirt.

However, my impression of him was lessened by the stern expression he had on his face as he whispered, "Chrom, we shouldn't be talking to a random stranger lying on the ground. It's just not safe."

"Hey! I can hear you." I interrupted, noting that the blue haired man's name was Chrom.

"Don't worry, Frederick. Besides, we can't just leave someone unconscious in the park like this." Chrom replied, offering a hand, which I graciously accepting, allowing him to help pull me to my feet, as I noticed that he definitely wasn't any slouch himself when it came to his body, having a set of lean arms revealed by his shirt, which was coincidentally the same as the man whose I name I now knew to be Frederick. It was dark blue, with two white stripes running vertically from the shoulders, and a small patch on the right shirt pocket read "Shepherds."

"Yeah, come on, Freddy." A blonde girl who had her hair tied up into two pigtails added, "Look at her. She wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Anyways," She said, turning to me with a beaming smile, "What's your name?"

"R-Robin." I said rather uncertainly, repeating the first thing that had come to my mind. For some reason, as I tried to think about it, I only felt my headache worsen, forcing me to rub my head in an effort to lessen the pain.

"What exactly were you doing passed out in the middle of the park?" Frederick asked me, arms crossed suspiciously.

"I-I don't remember." I answered honestly, realizing that I knew nothing except my name, no matter how hard I thought. All that I could pull up was a blank and a migraine for my efforts, "The only thing I can think of is my name, and that's it."

Expecting the already wary man to pry deeper, I was surprised when the girl was the first to speak.

"Whoa, do you have amnesia then?" The girl exclaimed excitedly, although I really wasn't sure why. Amnesia wasn't exactly something I would celebrate on a daily basis.

She quickly grabbed me by the shoulders and lifted up a few of my pale white bangs out of my face, leaning in uncomfortably close as she studied my face.

"Just like I thought. You must have retrograde amnesia caused by this head trauma." The girl spouted off, tapping what must have been a bruise, because I immediately flinched from the shock of pain that shot through my system.

"Sorry if that confused you. Lissa's studying medicine." Chrom explained as the girl backed off enough to give me breathing room again.

Lissa nodded, "Well, in any case, we can't just leave her out here, Freddy. If all she remembers is her name, then we'll have a hard time placing her anywhere. Let's just take her along with us."

"Did you check to see if you have a phone or wallet? That might help you remember something." Chrom suggested, which I had to admit, was a good idea. But the only problem was that, as I searched my pockets, I realized that I was completely empty handed.

"Sorry, no luck." I sighed.

"See? Now she really doesn't have anywhere to go! Come on, let's take her along." Lissa said, inching over and grabbing my hand as she pleaded with Frederick.

The man scowled slightly, but he shrugged his shoulders, "Fine. We're missing practice time every second that we're out here."

"Yay!" Lissa squealed, dragging me along forcefully as Chrom and Frederick led the way for us, picking up two heavy looking bags like they were nothing. But then again, they were two built men, who probably didn't have any trouble carrying around things.

"So, where exactly are we headed?" I asked, realizing that I had been forcefully made to come along with these three. Not that I really had any reason not to trust them, since they did seem like nice people, even Frederick, who I found to be actually a decent guy once his initial distrust of me lessened a bit. But still, I didn't feel exactly safe walking around with strangers.

"To Ylisse Lanes." Chrom informed me as we walked up to a large building of that name, spelled out in large neon letters.

Still confused as to what exactly this place was, I was quickly made aware of my location once we walked inside to the chorus of pins crashing from all corners of the bowling alley.

"A bowling alley?" I asked, curious as to why we were here, of all places.

Suddenly, I realized what the bags Frederick and Chrom had carried with them were for as the two of them settled on a lane and opened up their bags, revealing that the contents were indeed bowling balls, along with two pairs of bowling shoes that looked like they had been through some serious use.

"Chrom and Frederick are practicing with their team, the Ylisse Lane Shepherds." Lissa explained to me as she sat me down at a table away from the lanes, but still close enough for us to talk to the bowlers, before she ran off to a vending machine for some drinks. I took this opportunity to take in my surroundings. The bowling alley looked like something out of an old 70s movie, with brightly colored walls lining the entire complex, and overly bright lights adding to the aesthetic.

"Just the two of them?" I asked, as Lissa came back with two Sprites, accepting the drink and popping open the tab, tipping a bit of the carbonated drink into my mouth. I never realized how thirsty I had been until now.

"Our older sister Emmeryn is on the team too." Lissa said, pointing to a woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties, clearly older than Lissa, who looked around twenty, or Chrom, who looked to be a year or two older than Lissa.

"Our?" I asked, wondering exactly who else was related to Lissa.

She had a look like she had just realized a huge fact, "Oh, I forgot to mention it, but Chrom is my older brother. I know we don't really look that alike, but Chrom's my older brother and Emmeryn is our older sister."

Now that she mentioned it though, I could pick out little details that let me know that all three were related to each other. They were slight, but they were all definitely from the same family.

"And then there's Sully." Lissa continued, pointing to a red haired woman who I almost mistaken for a man because of her short haircut. But she definitely was a woman from her feminine features, although the ease with which she picked up her bright red bowling ball made me think twice about it.

"Vaike's the guy right there." Lissa informed me, gesturing to a man with messy blonde hair who looked about the same age as Chrom, with the main difference being his extremely muscular body. He definitely looked like he belonged in a gym, not a bowling alley.

"And if he shows up, Stahl is the last guy on the team." Lissa added, glancing around for a glimpse of the man she had mentioned.

Trying not to feel useless, I tried to help out by looking around as well, even though I had no idea what he looked like. Just then, the front door of the alley slammed open to reveal a skinny man with messy olive hair, dressed in the distinctive blue and white shirt of the Shepherds.

"I'm late!" He cried as he ran past us, giving Lissa a quick greeting and me a polite nod.

"Oh, sorry, I guess I forgot to tell you about practice being moved to today this week." The man I now knew to be Vaike apologized.

Chrom sighed, "Well, nothing we can do about it now. Just try to remember next time."

"Hey, so who's the new chick?" Sully asked, jabbing a finger in my direction.

"Her name's Robin. Or, at least, we think it is. She can't really remember anything, and we wanted to help her out until she does." Lissa explained to everyone, which I was grateful for. I wasn't really sure how I would have introduced myself.

"Hey there, the Vaike, at your service." The blonde introduced himself to me.

"The Vaike?" I repeated, a little bit confused as to why he was talking about himself in the third person.

"Just ignore it. He does that sometimes. Sully." The redhead introduced herself.

"Um, hi, I'm Stahl." The last man to arrive said cheerfully, offering an adorably silly smile that made me grin a little with how awkward it seemed for him.

Finally, Chrom and Lissa's sister waved to me, "And I'm Emmeryn. Nice to meet you. If my brother and my sister want to help you out, then I'm all for it."

Seemingly annoyed by the interruption, Frederick slapped his hands together, "All right, let's get practice started. First, we should probably take a few minutes to warm up."

"Come on, Frederick, it's bowling. I'm sure we'll be fine without stretching and all that." Vaike scoffed, grabbing his ball and rolling it down the lane without a second thought. However, it started tailing off to the left, and once it hit the pins, the ball had already shifted over enough to only knock down about half of the pins.

"Right, stretching." Vaike quickly said, to Frederick's approval.

"Well then, I'll get us started." Emmeryn said after the five had done some basic stretches, grabbing a simple black ball and stepping to the line. She stepped back exactly four steps, and after a short pause, went into her motion, bringing back her arm and snapping it forward, releasing the ball at the end of a fluid sequence that seemed graceful, even to someone who wasn't familiar with the intricacies of bowling.

The ball slid for a second, hugging the outside edge of the lane before it suddenly began accelerating and crashed into the pins, knocking all of them down easily. Strike.

"Wow, that was amazing." I said to myself as Emmeryn walked back and flashed a smile at me.

"Emmeryn's the best player on our team." Lissa told me as I watched the rest of the team bowl.

Chrom seemed to be just as fluid as his sister, while Vaike was content to hurl his ball harder than either of them, although Sully definitely gave him a run for his money. Frederick, as I would have guessed, looked perfect in his delivery and technique, with the end result being the second strike I saw that day. Following him, Stahl moved in a manner similar to Frederick, although his result wasn't the same, which resulted in Frederick pulling him aside to give him some extra help.

After they played a few rounds, the bowling alley looked like it was ready to close, and as I checked the clock, I was surprised to find that a few hours had already passed.

"All right, Robin, we're going to go. You can come with us, if you want, and we can give you a place to spend the night." Emmeryn offered as Stahl, Sully, and Vaike left, leaving me with Lissa, Frederick, Chrom and Emmeryn.

"Okay, thanks." I replied, glad for the offer.

"I'll drive her back." Frederick said, which surprised me. Frankly, he was the last person I would have expected to offer to do such a thing. Of course, I realized the true reason once we walked to where he had parked his car, which happened to be a police cruiser. Of course it was.

"Well, I guess that I'm not surprised." I remarked as I slid into the passenger seat, clicking in my seatbelt. I definitely remembered how cars worked, and really, the only thing that I didn't clearly remember were personal details. As far as I knew, I still knew how the world worked.

Frederick nodded from the driver's seat, "I've been in the force ever since I graduated high school and went straight into the academy."

"So is that why you were so suspicious of me at first?" I asked as we pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road, which I did not recognize. Well, I supposed that it would have been a bit much to expect to remember a location right away.

Frederick shook his head, "Well, it's mostly because I'm friends with Emmeryn. It's on me to keep her brother and sister safe, and I don't want to let her down."

I guess I somewhat understood now why he had been so aggressive towards me earlier, "So have you known Emmeryn for a while?"

"We went to the same high school, and I was friends with her then, and I'm friends with her now, which is why I had to be careful. If you had turned out to be dangerous to Chrom and Lissa, Emmeryn would have killed me." Frederick explained to me as he stopped in front of a fancy looking apartment building.

"Well, we're here." Frederick said, getting out of the car and allowing me to do the same.

"Wait, they live _here_?" I asked, a little surprised that three siblings who looked like they were straight out of college could afford such an expensive looking place.

Just what exactly was I getting myself into?

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**This was just an idea that came to me and wouldn't leave me alone until I typed out a few thousand words for it. I really have no idea where this fic is going to go, but if anyone is interested in reading more, please let me know with a review or a PM. I have some good ideas, but I don't want to write something that no one wants to read. so before I continue on, I need to see if there's actually any interest in a story like this. But I do have an idea to get as many characters involved as possible, so if you guys are interested in reading more, let me know!**

**Thanks for reading!**


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